Today, furniture, and particularly bedding, manufacturers have developed sophisticated and reliable techniques for manufacturing high quality and durable mattresses. The industry is capable of providing mattresses that last for over ten years providing comfortable sleeping surfaces for all that time.
As the industry strives to continue providing improved quality and reliability, one area being addressed is the ability of the industry to provide a consistent consumer experience across the lifetime of owning the mattress, from the point of selecting the mattress until the mattress is eventually replaced. When addressing the ability to provide a consistent consumer experience for the entire lifespan of the mattress, one engineering problem that needs to be addressed is the changing characteristics of flexible foam over time. In particular, it has been noticed by consumers that the mattress they select when testing mattresses on the showroom floor may have a firmness that differs, at least somewhat, from the firmness of the mattress that ultimately is delivered to their home after they purchase the mattress. Commonly, the consumer finds that the mattress delivered to their home is more firm than the mattress they tested on the showroom floor. Additionally, over time the firmness of the mattress may change. As the consumer uses the mattress, the mattress may develop areas where the mattress is less firm than in other areas. Thus, over time the sleeping surface(s) of the mattress can have an inconsistent feeling, one where the firmness of the mattress varies or is perceived to vary.
Mattress manufacturers have circumvented this problem by educating the consumer about the nature of foam and informing them that they should expect the firmness of their newly purchased mattress to change over time. However, this approach fails to address the underlying reasons for the phenomenon and does not provide the consumer with a reliable estimate about how much the firmness of their new mattress is likely to change.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art to provide for a mattress that provides a more consistent consumer experience yielding a firmness that is consistent over time and over the full area of the mattress.